


waiting, ready to grow

by NinaBot



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: (it's me i'm stupid boys), Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pre-Relationship, Spoilers, [furiously headcanons over a single piece of house decor ], also look everyone! the stupid boys are Yearning!, because i'm very weak for parallels, for the first ambrosia gift conversation i guess??, set before the first clear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:34:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27390529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinaBot/pseuds/NinaBot
Summary: "Hey Nyx, have you noticed these? There's quite a lot of them on the Hall. Are they your doing?" Zagreus asked, coming around to the goddess' corner near his quarters and greeting her with an intrigued look on his face. He held one of the white blossoms in his hand, presenting it. Nyx, for her part, simply tilted her head in amusement."I did indeed, my child, but it was not by my hand that these blooms came to be." She explained. "I do, however, have some thoughts on what might have caused them to appear."---Change always comes slow to the Underworld, slow and subtle and often unnoticed at first, and Zagreus' decision seems to have started quite a few such changes.
Relationships: Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 295





	waiting, ready to grow

**Author's Note:**

> sometimes i forget i have an ao3 account and i can just. post things online! for people to see! it's a magical feeling. anyway, I hope you all enjoy this headcanon that has been haunting me for almost two months now, "Petals, Scattered" and "Mosaic, Chthonic" are my fav decor.
> 
> title from Blossom by Kerli

It started slow, and as all things that take their time, it went unnoticed for a while. It started the first time the rebellious prince emerged from the red waters of Styx, shaking it off his arms and hair and walking past the shades in the Great Hall in a determined stride. No one noticed the drops that tracked after him and how they melted right into the tiled marble floor instead of pooling over it, and if anyone did notice, they didn't pay it any mind and figured it was just another odd trait of the House and the river surrounding it. And nothing much would have come of it, except the prince kept coming back, over and over again emerging from the bloody river and walking down the same hall, and over and over again more droplets fell and melted into the floor.

As all things that take their time, those who reside in the House didn't notice at first. Routine blinds all to slow change, and so the first one to notice is one who barely spent his time there. Thanatos had finally returned after his long assignment on the surface and stood before Lord Hades for his report. Nothing odd about that in itself, but as he stood on the marble in respect to his lord and also as a way to rest, he couldn't help but notice how warm the floor was. Warm like the stone before a fireplace should be or, he realized with some surprise, how the garden grounds were. That one is a distant memory, from when the gardens were still open for visitation and when the Queen nurtured and cared for it. He rarely went there in his youth, but the few times he did he had marveled at the feeling of the grass beneath his feet. It was nothing like the hills of Asphodel or the planes of Elysium as he'd later compare by himself after he visited the realms, as the grass and ground were alive in a way he would never know again, even after his first assignments in the surface. Topside, everything was snow and frost, and the few times he indulged in feeling his bare feet on it had been rather unpleasant.

But this was marble, not the rich black dirt of the gardens, and it had no right to feel this warm and alive. Yet, it was. After being dismissed, Thanatos glared at the floor beneath his feet, puzzled, and even took a step back, then two. But no, wherever his feet touched it was warm. He didn't have long to think about it though, as his focus was drawn away by Hypnos, his twin clearly yearning for some attention after so long apart which Thanatos didn't begrudge him, despite how infuriating he could be sometimes. He simply listened to Hypnos rantings of the latest goings on and... some of the news left him rolling with a simmering anger and hurt that he didn't expect. Death Incarnate left his brother talking to thin air as he teleported away mid conversation, on his way to find a certain young god and now completely distracted from his previous thoughts.

The second person to notice was one of the shade workers, tasked with placing some new candles above the House's columns, by the prince's request. It was just another work, now that they were done cleaning up the lounge and expanding the kitchen, except that while bringing in the new candles, the shades found a budding white flower by the stairs of the Styx pool. It was a small little thing, just three petals and one shy purple leaf slipping from between the marble tiles. Unsure what to do about it, one of the shades plucked it out and thought the matter resolved, later leaving it on the contractor's worktable and there it was mostly forgotten. Except that even after days, it didn't wilt. Rather, it kept on growing, and found a new home on an empty mug once it grew large enough to draw the attention of one of the contractors.

The third to notice was the house custodian, going about in her usual rush to dust up the decorations on the Great Hall and humming a little tune, when she noticed that there were... flowers? Flowers, growing in the Hall. Right there, under her watch! Desperate to address the matter but unsure how, the gorgon head fluttered over to Lady Nyx and reported the problem to the goddess. Despite how troubled she was, Nyx only gave her a small, cryptic smile and told her not to mind the flowers and to carry on with her duties as before. Dusa stuttered a flustered thank you for the lady's attention and did as she was told, dutiful as ever. Later that day/night, when Lord Hades called off the activities on the House and declared the work shift done for the time being, Nyx made her way down the darkened halls and found the flowers. Soft pale blooms with lavender leaves and stems, budding right out of the marble stone by the pool steps. Not around and between the tiles, but _upon_ them. Night Herself hummed in thought before leaving.

Soon, others took notice as well. Achilles during one of his rounds, at first thought they were decorations like the vases of deep indigo tulips the prince had commissioned for Nyx's corner of the House, but at further inspection discovered they were nothing of the sort. Megaera, coming out of the pool herself and groaning under her breath after being defeated once again, stomped over one of the flowers in an attempt to vent her anger but found the bloom untouched by her wrath, and soon her gaze noticed the several other flowers in patches along the sides of the Great Hall. Orpheus, plucking idly at his harp strings as he tested some chords for a new song, couldn't help but notice the white flowers now clustering at the bases of the columns of the Hall. 

And finally even the Lord of the House, while looking up from his paperwork and letting his mind drift to his slippery son and his current exploits, had his gaze caught by the pale blooms now positively blanketing the floor of his Great Hall. Oh, blood and darkness--

"Nyx!" His voice boomed against the walls, and a moment later the goddess appeared in a blink and hovered before his desk, her face a mask of peaceful aloofness.

"Yes, my lord?"

"What. Are those?" He asks, pointing towards the accursed blooms. Nyx doesn't turn to look, but her lips twitch into a barely there smile.

"I believe those are flowers, Hades." She replies, pleasant as ever, and Hades' brows furrow.

"Oh blast it, I know that! I meant, how come flowers are growing on my marble floors, under your watch? Have you been outmatched by weeds?" The God of Dead asked, and when Nyx's golden eyes grew hard and steely, he remembered why he shouldn't question the Night's powers.

"They are not weeds, Hades. These blooms are an intrinsic part of the House like the walls around us and the floor we walk upon. As they have manifested of their own volition, and despite mine or anyone's desire, I imagine that they have come from powers of this realm, and beyond."

"Whatever do you mean, 'beyond'?" Hades almost began to rant, but instead took a deep breath and rubbed at the bridge of his nose before continuing. "Nyx, plants belong in vases or in the garden, _outside_ the House. They must go. I do not care how they came to be, just see to un-making them."

No sooner had the God of the Dead spoken, that his son emerged from the pool, drawing the gaze of a few shades who he waved pleasantly towards. As he made his way out, rolling out his shoulder free of some stiffness, the red drops that fell from him sank into the marble and both Hades and Nyx watched as the pale blooms seemed to follow the prince's path down the Great Hall as if he was the sun itself. Zagreus stopped to check in with Hypnos, and the last drops from his hair made two new blooms sprout from the patch surrounding the orange recliner Hypnos was perched on.

Of course, the prince noticed the gazes turned on him, and he looked between his lord father and mother night with a confused frown.

"Uhh, hello? Everything okay? What's with the staring?" Zagreus asked, walking slowly towards the two gods. Nyx had a fond smile she spared only for him and her children, and she wore it now, while Hades just frowned down at the prince from his desk.

"It's nothing to concern yourself, child. I trust you are well?"

"Can't complain. Got pretty far this time too." Zagreus says, leveling his father with a look which earned him a scoff.

"'Pretty far', he says. Foolish boy. Get as _far_ as you like, you'll never get _out_." The Lord of the House said, and returned to his parchments with one last huff. Zagreus rolled his eyes and caught Nyx give a reassuring nod before leaving in a burst of darkness. The prince takes the time to pet Cerberus before moving on to the rest of the House.

It's a while still before the prince himself took proper notice of his unknowing handiwork. It was a particularly trying run through his father's domain, and for the first time he stops by the steps of the pool and sits down. Not discouraged or disheartened on his quest for the surface, but simply needing a moment to gather himself before continuing. Usually he would take such a break by talking to his friends around the House, but right now he could use the moment of quiet. It's when he leaned back and his hands met soft, dewey petals instead of the cold marble floor, that he turned and saw the blooms.

Zagreus marveled at them, the simple beauty of the milky white flowers and the lavender-purple leaves, and then noticed just how far and wide they grew over the Hall. His jaw dropped then a pleasantly surprised smile slowly took over his features. As he gently hovered his stretched palm over the bed of flowers, he's enchanted by how they followed after his touch and leaned towards him, as if greeting him back to the House. He plucked one and twirled it slowly between two fingers, and the stem is warm and vibrating with energy, like his bloodstones do but not quite as loudly. The prince then tucked the bloom behind an ear and gathers a few others, already knowing where he's headed next.

"Hey Nyx, have you noticed these? There's quite a lot of them on the Hall. Are they your doing?" Zagreus asked, coming around to the goddess' corner near his quarters and greeting her with an intrigued look on his face. He held one of the white blossoms in his hand, presenting it. Nyx, for her part, simply tilted her head in amusement.

"I did indeed, my child, but it was not by my hand that these blooms came to be." She explained. "I do, however, have some thoughts on what might have caused them to appear."

"Oh? Mind sharing with me then?" Zagreus asked with a half-teasing tone and Nyx smiles at his good humor.

"It seems to me that your constant defiance of your father's rule, coupled with the growing darkness within you and your own inate skills, have stirred change in this House deeper yet subtler than with your friends and colleagues." Nyx says, and it gave Zagreus pause as he considered her words.

"So what you're saying is, I made these? Me?" The prince sounded so disbelieving, almost skeptical of the idea.

"Maybe not consciously, but their origins can be traced to you, of that I am certain. They do respond to you, don't they?"

"I think so? I can't control them or do anything with them at all, but they did react to me." Zagreus muttered, and he looked down on the small bundle of the flowers he has on his hand. "I created these. Huh..."

Nyx watched as Zagreus lost himself in thought, processing the information he's gained. Eventually he blinked himself back to the present and gave Night Herself a smile, though his eyes were still distant.

"Well, thanks for the information, Nyx." He said and bid his farewell, and Nyx followed after him as he walked over to the West Hall in a slow stride. If she knew him at all, he would need some time by himself to think, and know him she did.

Zagreus found himself wandering the House, deep in thought and lost in the sight of the little flowers in his hand. The air of the Underground are as still as it's ever been, yet the flowers bobbed and moved as if tickled by some breeze. They are as pale as the snow from the surface, he noted. He could count the amount of times he's made it that far on his attempts to break free on one hand, but the memory of that first time is sharp and crisp as the cold on his skin. Yes, he remembers the breeze, how it made his skin shudder and rise in goosebumps with the biting cold. How the snow hissed and smoked under his burning feet, and how the glare of Helios' chariot somehow managed to pierce through the overcast gray skies.

He's not entirely sure when or how, but he made his way to Thanatos' little corner in the House facing the Styx. It's almost cozy now, after he spent some of his hard-earned plunder into making more than just the Lounge a welcoming place to be in. He couldn't fully appreciate the softness of the plenty of rugs he's amassed by now, but he could appreciate the warm light from the torches and the plush recliner agaisnt the wall. And, he thought with a fond smile, appreciate that Than was also making himself comfortable there by placing some of his belongings on the new round table by the railing.

The prince leaned against the stone railing, still regarding the flowers and the memories they bring. Even the leaves, the same hue as the grass and pomegranate trees' leaves from their garden. He's never been allowed there all his life, but that didn't stop him from finding his way there that one time in his youth. In the end, it was the singed footprints in the grass that gave him away, but he remembers the feeling of it under his hands. Hmm, white like the snow, lavender as the plants of the underworld, and humming with unknown power like his bloodstones. Curious litte things.

Zagreus isn't sure how long he's been there, but the telltale guh-dong brings a pleased little smile to his face, and he doesn't need to turn to know who is approaching.

"Have you been here long, Zagreus? It's not like you to linger." Thanatos' tone might be deadpan to most people, but Zagreus could pick the curiosity and surprise in it. He straightened and turned, leaning his back to the railing, and greeted Death with a smile.

"Oh, long enough. Why do you ask?" Zagreus asked, curious himself but half knowing the answer already. Thanatos cared, as he always have, even when he was too brash to accept it. The older god regarded him for a long moment before huffing a snort.

"As I said, it's unlike you to linger. And I could not sense you across the realms on my way back, which is unnusual." Thanatos said with a shrug of his crossed arms, coming to stand a respectful distance from Zagreus, watching over the calm waters of the Styx. Zagreus regarded his profile for a moment before looking away.

"So me not being out there trying to break out of my father's realm is 'unnusual', now?" He asked in a soft tone, genuinely intrigued. The prince caught Thanatos looking at him from the corner on his eye, seemingly surprised by his own words.

They both looked away from each other about the same time, but now there's was this new thought between them. When did they, in the middle of this whole family crisis, manage to find a new normal? Has it really been long enough for this to become their new routine? Zagreus isn't sure if that's encouraging or despairing; he's starting to lose count of how many times he has died out there.

"Well, I've been a little preoccupied, is all. I'll be back out there before you know it." Zagreus reassured him, not wanting to continue poking at that tender new subject any further, at least for now. More fruit for thought, it seems. Still, he looked at the little blooms in his hand and had an idea. "But before I do that, I got something for you."

"Zagreus, there is no need for anymore gifts, I have more nectar than I'll ever be able to drink by now--" Thanatos closed his eyes as he speaks, not even wanting to see another bottle on Zagreus' hand. There was a tenseness in his tone, remnants from the prince's previous remark that brought some uncomfortable realizations to Death Incarnate.

"Oh, it's not nectar this time, mate." The prince said, smugness in his voice before it faded into earnest fondness. "Something for all the time you have bailed me out and just, all the times you've been there for me... I thought I'd get you this."

Thanatos had no choice but to look at what kind of unnecessarily lavish gift he's come up with this time, but whatever he had been expecting, it certainly wasn't the finely crafted bottle of heavenly liquid amber. There is no god upon the surface or below, who isn't able to recognize what that is.

"Ambrosia...! Zagreus, where did you even..." He was shocked by the gesture and it shows, but he took the moment to take a deep breath and claim the bottle from Zagreus' hand. Even through the thick glass, his palm tingled with the power of the drink, full of promise. There was the usual purple ribbon seal, a consecration for Lord Dionysus that comes with every bottle of the stuff as well as nectar, but there was also a now familiar white flower wrapped around the neck of the bottle. His bare knuckle brushed against a petal and the steady beat of power thrumming in it caught him off guard.

"Isn't... Don't you think this a bit excessive?" He asked, unsure if he should even accept this. This feels like a little too much, certainly Zagreus doesn't mean this gift the way it's supposed to be taken. They have been on less... troubled terms since he's first met the prince on one of his escape attempts, but this is...

"You say it like it's a bad thing. Surely a little bit of excess has never hurt anyone, right?" Zagreus said with a shrug, and Thanatos wants to laugh.

"Oh, you would be surprised." Thanatos said instead. If he only knew just how many mortals he had to retrieve over the aeons from all manners of excesses and overindulgences. Still, he looked at the bottle in his hand and wondered if this was indeed excessive, or just enough. Zagreus might be brash and impulsive at times, but he wasn't a simpleton. He knew what this meant, and if he didn't, he would have found out somehow.

"Well, if you insist on embarrassing me, you know what? I'm going to reciprocate." He said, a small, almost playful smile tugging on his lips. Zagreus watched in anticipation as Thanatos rested the bottle on the table and summoned something into his hand. Oh. _Oh_!

"What? Thanatos, is this... you're really giving Mort to me?" The prince cradled the small plushie in his hands with such care and reverence, it actually struck a chord in Thanatos' heart. "I.. I'm deeply honoured!" He said, clearly not knowing what to say to this gift, which was just the intended reaction Thanatos was after.

"I can't believe you found him after all this time!" Zagreus said, clearly still taking this in.

He had never told Zagreus that Nyx had found the lost companion and returned it to her son some time ago, mostly because it never came up in the few short times they had together back then, and it certainly didn't come up until jsut now. But Thanatos couldn't just let Zagreus give him something like ambrosia to him without some sort of retribution on his part. And Mort had just the kind of deep sentimental value to make it a fair exchange.

"You used to carry him around everywhere." Zagreus mused out loud, gently tracing the plushie's stitching, some of it old and some of it recent. "I was so sad for you when he got lost."

"And I cannot believe you still remember that." Thanatos replied, and really it had been so long ago. Zagreus had been so young as well, limbs still too short to keep up with his endless energy, but he had tried to comfort his friend anyway and help trying to find the plushie to no avail. Gods, it was so long ago... "Regardless, he will not be getting lost again under your supervision, accurate?"

Zagreus looked up at him with his usual confident smile, but some of the softness from the exchange remained on his mismatched eyes. He was almost too radiant to look at directly.

"Accurate." He agreed and it sounded like a promise. If Thanatos had not been sure about his decision to hand his childhood companion to his childhood friend, he surely was now.

"Well then, I think I've lingered enough for now. I better get back to it before Father starts to get the wrong idea." The prince said with an eye roll, looking down the hall and probably picturing his lord father's frowning countenance. But when he turned back to Thanatos, there was a shy little smile, tentative. "See you out there?"

Ah, right. Zagreus was still trying to escape and leave the Underworld. At times Thanatos would forget this was the point of all this. One day, he might just get past lord Hades and achieve his goal. One day, Death Incarnate would return home and not see his old friend there, one of the few solaces he had from his exhausting work.

"See you out there." He confirmed with a faint smile, enough to reassure Zagreus, who smiled wider and left in his usual rushed stride.

Thanatos gazed out to the Styx again, but his eyes drifted back tot he table, and the gleaming bottle on it. He knew deep down that Zagreus' quest was a fool's errand. No one would get past lord Hades, and zagreus would just keep throwing himself to his own death again and again and again until... Until when? He would not give up, but there was also no escape. Thanatos wasn't sure what thought was worse, that his friend would keep pushing and pushing against a useless task, like Sisyphus and his boulder in the depths of Tartarus, in some self-infilcted punishment for the feeblest hope to find answers; or that someday - or night - he would finally achieve his goal, and be gone.

Every time he found Zagreus out there, bloody and bruised and determined as ever, every time he helped him go further, was his own way to say goodbye. Fates only knew when it might be the last time he got to see Zagreus, after all.

Thanatos reached out and unwinded the stem from the bottle ribbon, and regarded the pale bloom. He wasn't imagining it, the way it pulsed with an intense, bottomless power. It reminded him of the flowing Styx, and of how mortals clung to their lives with everything they had and more, how bright and viciously they burned before they found their way to the Underworld. Reminded him of Zagreus, standing on a chamber recently wiped clean of foes, out of breath and in pain but grinning triumphantly and oh so alive.

Yes, it reminded him of life.

Death Incarnate had just enough time to tuck the bottle back in his quarters before work called to him again, and if Hermes and Ares took notice of the white bloom neatly tucked to the reaper's winged shoulderguards, they made no mention of it. At least not to him. Some in the House of Hades were less subtle about this small change to his outfit, but none asked any undue questions about it. They knew better than to ask the obvious.

And as all things that happen slowly, it would be a while before any took notice of the few forgotten blooms by the railings, and of how they did not wither or fade, but rather grew roots by the edges of the Styx. Deeper and deeper they dug, and farther and farther they spread over stone and over marble, growing snow white and stygian purple and oh so very alive and defiant. Slowly and subtly, but welcomed with fond surprise, as so many things do.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! <3


End file.
